So looking at what our opponent has access to, we can make a few predictions:

Squadrons based strategy seems unlikely since all the available admirals boost ships and have no ship benefit. There also aren’t many Squadron upgrades like Yavaris/Gallant Haven.

probably going to see and Peltas with the command, since Raymus fits in that nicely.

Aspiration will probably make an appearance, it might be the Flagship or it might be paired with another, larger ship, like an MC80H (The assault version would be a nice choice for this thanks to it’s double Defensive refits)

We might see several MC30s, since they can tank a few hits and go nicely with Shields to Maximum!

A fleet of several medium or large ships is also possible, but if Rebel command was building towards this I would have expected them to try to deploy Home One and Defiance into the Sector.

Commander – Motti

So, with Motti boosting my ISDs to really solid resilience and a good defensive focus on the available officers I decided I wanted to bring The Interdictor to screen the flagship alongside another Imperial Star Destroyer. The flagship itself would be a long range Cymoon, so it can contribute weight of fire from a safe distance as part of a second wave of ships.

That’s a huge amount of firepower for the enemy fleet to try to take head on, and it will be excellent against the anticipated Multiple Small Units (MSU) fleet.

I liked the idea of controlling the approach of the rebel ships so decided to try putting G-8 Projector on The Interdictor – it’s a little more expensive than the old Tractor Beam but can’t be blocked by a navigate token. This is might work out really well for me keeping things like MC30s and Torpedo Corvettes at long range while the Cymoon and ISD2 are hammering away at their buddies. In case my opponent didn’t target it, I also included Projector Experts so they could support my other ships even more.

I also decided that the big ships were tough enough that I don’t need to bid big for 1st activation, and would be willing to accept 2nd player, as I felt there was real value in deploying knowing where the enemy flagship is.

With so many large, expensive ships (412 points in those first 3 ships and the Admiral) I needed to fill out the fleet with some cheap activations and squadrons. The squadrons themselves were just barely enough to screen my flagship, if the rebels did bring a substantial bombing wing, then the other ships would be on their own. Lets hope they don’t!